Based on a True Story: A Memoir

As this book's title suggests, Norm Macdonald tells the story of his life - more or less - from his origins on a farm in the-back-of-beyond Canada and an epically disastrous appearance on Star Search to his account of auditioning for Lorne Michaels and his memorable run as the anchor of Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live - until he was fired because a corporate executive didn't think he was funny. But Based on a True Story is much more than a memoir; it's the hilarious, inspired epic of Norm's life.

I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution

It was a pretty radical idea - a channel for teenagers, showing nothing but music videos. It was such a radical idea that almost no one thought it would actually succeed, much less become a force in the worlds of music, television, film, fashion, sports, and even politics. But it did work. MTV became more than anyone had ever imagined. I Want My MTV tells the story of the first decade of MTV, the golden era when MTV's programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched religiously to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have something to talk about at parties.

TV (the Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time

What's the greatest TV show ever? That debate reaches an epic conclusion in TV (the Book). Sepinwall and Seitz have identified and ranked the 100 greatest scripted shows in American TV history. Using a complex, obsessively all-encompassing scoring system, they've created a pantheon of top TV shows, each accompanied by essays delving into what made these shows great.

Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency

In 1975, five young employees of a sclerotic William Morris agency left to start their own strikingly innovative talent agency. In the years to come, Creative Artists Agency would vault from its origins in a tiny office on the last block of Beverly Hills to become the largest and most imperial, groundbreaking, and star-studded agency Hollywood has ever seen - a company whose tentacles now spread throughout the world of movies, music, television, technology, advertising, sports, and investment banking far more than previously imagined.

The Daily Show (the AudioBook): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests

This oral history takes the listener behind the curtain for all the show's highlights, from its origins as Comedy Central's underdog late-night program hosted by Craig Kilborn to Jon Stewart's long reign to Trevor Noah's succession, rising from a scrappy jester in the 24-hour political news cycle to become part of the beating heart of politics - a trusted source for not only comedy but also commentary, with a reputation for calling bullshit and an ability to effect real change in the world.

I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Standup Comedy's Golden Era

I'm Dying Up Here chronicles the collective coming of age of the standup comedians who defined American humor during the past three decades. Born early in the Baby Boom, they grew up watching The Tonight Show, went to school during Vietnam and Watergate, migrated en masse to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, and created an artistic community unlike any before or since. They were arguably the funniest people of their generation, living in a late-night world of sex, drugs, dreams, and laughter.

You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman

Both joyous tribute and serious biography, Mike Thomas' You Might Remember Me is a celebration of Phil Hartman's multi-faceted career and an exhaustively reported, warts-and-all examination of his often intriguing and sometimes complicated life - a powerful, humor-filled and disquieting portrait of a man who was loved by many, admired by millions and taken from them far too early.

Almost Interesting: The Memoir

David Spade is best known for his harsh "Hollywood Minute" sketches on SNL, his starring roles in movies like Tommy Boy and Joe Dirt, and his seven-year stint as Dennis Finch on the series Just Shoot Me. Now, with a wit as dry as the weather in his home state of Arizona, the "comic brat extraordinaire" delivers a memoir.

Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything

Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn't think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly 40 million Americans were tuning in weekly.

The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts

The New York Times best-selling biography of an American comedy legend. After three years of sobriety, Chris Farley's life was at its creative peak until a string of professional disappointments chased him back to drugs and alcohol. He fought hard against them, but it was a fight he would lose in December 1997. Farley's fans immediately drew parallels between his death and that of his idol, John Belushi. Without looking deeper, however, many failed to see that Farley was much more than just another Hollywood drug overdose. In this officially authorized oral history, Farley's friends and family remember his work and life.

We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy

Long before Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled through time in a flying DeLorean, director Robert Zemeckis and his friend and writing partner Bob Gale worked tirelessly to break into the industry with a hit. For the first time ever, the story of how these two young filmmakers struck lightning is being told by those who witnessed it. We Don't Need Roads includes original interviews with Zemeckis, Gale, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Huey Lewis, and over 50 others who contributed to one of the most popular and profitable film trilogies of all time.

Saturday Night Live and American TV

Week after week, SNL has produced unforgettable sketches and provocative political satire, adapting to changing times while staying true to its original vision of performing timely topical humor. With essays that address issues ranging from race and gender to authorship and comedic performance, Saturday Night Live and American TV follows the history of this 36-time Emmy-winning show and its place in the shifting social and media landscape of American television.

Thanks for the Money: How to Use My Life Story to Become the Best Joel McHale You Can Be

Joel McHale pulls back the curtain on his personal journey to stardom! Here, for the first time, Joel reveals all that has molded him into the acclaimed comic actor he is today: a love of performance, a series of boyhood head injuries, and, most importantly, a passion for financial compensation and free shoes.

From the NY Post's "Page Six" to Good Housekeeping and now People, Kate Coyne has spent years on the front lines of the entertainment industry, feeding our insatiable appetite for celebrity news and gossip. I'm Your Biggest Fan chronicles her journey from red-carpet reporter to upper-level editor and the countless surreal, surprising, and awkward interactions she had with stars along the way.

Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power

Trump Revealed offers the most thorough and wide-ranging examination of Donald Trump's public and private lives to date, from his upbringing in Queens and formative years at the New York Military Academy to his turbulent careers in real estate and entertainment to his astonishing rise as the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination. The book will be based on the investigative reporting of more than two dozen Washington Post reporters and researchers.

Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film

New York Times best-selling author, comedian, and actor Patton Oswalt shares his entertaining memoir about coming of age as a performer and writer in the late '90s while obsessively watching classic films at the legendary New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakeable addiction. It wasn't drugs, alcohol, or sex. It was film.

Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN

ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup that included Australian Rules Football, rodeo, and a rinky-dinky clip show called Sports Center. Today the empire stretches far beyond television into radio, magazines, mobile phones, restaurants, video games and more, while ESPN's personalities have become global superstars to rival the sports icons they cover.

Publisher's Summary

A dramatic account of the politics and personalities behind NBC's calamitous attempt to reinvent late-night television.

When NBC decided to move Jay Leno into prime time to make room for Conan O'Brien to host the Tonight show - a job he had been promised five years earlier - skeptics anticipated a train wreck for the ages. It took, in fact, only a few months for the dire predictions to come true. Leno's show, panned by critics, dragged down the ratings - and the profits - of NBC's affiliates, while ratings for Conan's new Tonight show plummeted to the lowest levels in history. Conan's collapse, meanwhile, opened an unexpected door of opportunity for rival David Letterman. What followed was a boisterous, angry, frequently hilarious public battle that had millions of astonished viewers glued to their sets. In The War for Late Night, New York Times reporter Bill Carter offers a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the events of the unforgettable 2009/2010 late-night season as all of its players- performers, producers, agents, and network executives-maneuvered to find footing amid the shifting tectonic plates of television culture.

This is the story of NBC's attempt to move Jay Leno into prime time and Conan O'Brien into the "Tonight Show" and what a story it is! Bill Carter has produced a page turner infused with insight into the personalities involved, the issues driving the process, and the decline of a major network. The book is really dazzling when Carter reports Leno's crash and burn first in a media stand-up routine and then in the ratings for his new program. Leno comes across as a well meaning individual given the blame for O'Brien's demise. Some may well come away with the impression that Conan O'Brien was shorted and I tend to agree. Actually, O'Brien just might have been the wrong comic at work in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ultimately, this is a very informative book. The writing is Bill Carter which is just electric at times and the reading is exceptional. It is an eye opener on a number of levels.

I heard the author on Sound of Young America talking about the book and was interested, but listening to this book far more entertaining than I ever imagined. I rarely watch late night TV, but getting this inside view of how the different characters interact and the demands of the business was very interesting. The author had so much inside information, I would have believed this was a novel. The story he weaved together was very compelling and hard to put down.

The book is excellently narrated. The fact that there are parts of comedy routines in the book made for some good chuckles, but the narrator did such a great job (not trying to do impressions, but just giving a subtle indication who is speaking) that the book is even better as a result.

The behind the scenes of late night has always been more interesting then the actual shows themselves.
Lets face it, these guys tell the same canned jokes 5 days a week for 30 years and get paid more in a month then many of us will make in our entire lives. There is nothing wrong with that, creating comedy is difficuly on a daily basis but the egos of these guys is pretty rich. It is hard to believe they think of themselves as 'Comic Geniuses' and revolutionaries in the art of having a monkey sit on their heads.
Although personally I prefer the comedy of Conan, having heard the behind the scenes story I am actually now more sympathetic to Leno... who at least knows its a business and treats it as such.

Perfect narrator for a well crafted story. No slow parts- no boring gossip- just wonderfully entertaining gossip used to tell a fascinating story of artists and egos, power and emotions. You will love this story.

I remember watching the late shift movie about when Leno (I even hate typing his name) usurped Letterman for the Tonight Show. While I love Letterman, Conan became my guy almost from the beginning. This book gave me an in depth look at the late night drama I was seeing unfold on TV with my guy and some of the juicy history. It was really cool to read something about something I was so invested in. I was in the audience on is second night at The Tonight Show when he got his nickname from Tom Hanks and was there for the rally that protested him going off the air during his last week.

If you have any love for a late night host - Jimmy, Craig, Letterman, Fallon, Corbert,etc. then you should check this out. It gives you a behind the scene look at what was going on and history about all the hosts at the time. I loved it!!

I really wish they would add LATE SHIFT cause I would love to read that too.